Further Afield
DELIVERED ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 23, 1888,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the
Word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing you put it
from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set
you to be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation
unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were
glad and glorified the Word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed." Acts 13:46-48.
DEAR friends, last Sabbath morning I tried to stir YOU up to sacred
activity. I heard from many that they felt thoroughly motivated and I
know of some who at once commenced to speak for Christ. I wish I could
hope that our whole company kept step together in this. If what is said
on the Sabbath were really carried out, what splendid advances we
should make! But if not, it is as though a commanding officer spoke to
his troops and the men did not march according to orders. However, I am
thankful for what was done and for the many of you who did keep step
together in an earnest march to conquer the powers of sin by making
known the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
"They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word,"
and I hope that you, as you scattered to your various abodes, did go
everywhere teaching the Word of God according to your capacity. If so,
you have already come far enough to have met with individuals upon whom
your warnings and invitations have been spent in vain. I thought it
would be well for us this morning to go with Paul to Antioch, in
Pisidia, and just see how he was treated there and what he did when he
met with an ill reception from the Jews.
By God's Grace may we not be discouraged if our message has been
refused, but might we be instructed by the example of Paul and Barnabas
as to what we should do. And may we be comforted by the success which
their perseverance achieved. The Jews of Antioch, after having heard
Paul with considerable attention, made up their minds to refuse Jesus,
the Son of David, and not to accept Him as their Messiah and Savior.
I. Our first point for consideration will be that THE REJECTION OF
CHRIST IS A VERY SOLEMN BUSINESS. It has been a very solemn business
for the Jewish nation. The history of the Jews since their rejection of
our Lord may be written in blood and tears. No Gentile should read it
without ten thousand blushes, for they have been evilly treated by all
the nations, though through them the greatest blessing that ever came
to men has come to us. Never should we forget that our Redeemer is of
the seed of Israel. Yet, when the chosen people rejected Jesus
deliberately, from that day a history of woe and sorrow began, which
has gone on even to this day.
To the deep disgrace of Christendom, so called, there still remain
countries in which they regard a Jew's life as of less value than that
of a dog and only force holds them back from massacre. They are still a
people scattered and poor in many parts of the earth, although in
others they take the lead in wealth. Oh, that they had received the
Messiah, I shall not attempt to picture what would have been their
history if they had accepted the Son of David as their Lord. It is not
so–
"Oh, would our God to Zion turn! God with salvation clad, Then Judah's
harp should music learn, And Israel be glad."
I am bound to talk about a people nearer home, about some here present,
who have refused the Savior. Perhaps they will say, at the very outset,
"We have not done so, we will receive Him one day." Yes, but you refuse
Him now. If you do not now believe in Him, you have up till now
rejected Him. This you have done as they did at Antioch, against the
evidence of honest men. They doubted whether Christ had really risen
from the dead, although His resurrection was attested
by hundreds of true witnesses. His rising from the dead was a great
miracle. But if He did not rise from the dead we have a far greater
wonder to account for–Why did these hundreds of persons declare
themselves to be eyewitnesses of His rising?
Those who declared that they had seen Him alive after His crucifixion,
how came they to agree in such a statement and to persist in it so
unanimously? They were simple folk, who had associated with Jesus for
years. And they identified Him, after His rising, as the same Person
who died. They were not ingenious enough to have invented such a story.
They could have no reason in spreading the statement if they had not
believed it, for they suffered for it. They were not gainers in any
form, except as to spiritual things. They were thrust into prison and
scourged and banished and most of them were slain for bearing this
witness.
Some of them died by deaths too cruel to be described. But they none of
them ever recanted, or admitted that they might be mistaken. Hundreds
of witnesses asserted that this Jesus, whom they saw dead upon the
Cross, did really rise again. And their belief of this fact filled them
with a burning enthusiasm, which, while it produced in them a holy
character, also caused them to speak with a marvelous boldness and full
assurance which amazed their adversaries. They spoke earnestly, like
men who felt that it was their life's work to bear witness to a Divine
fact.
But the unbelievers set aside the testimony of these honest men. My
unconverted Hearer, if you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and
in the work which was crowned by His rising from the dead, you set
aside the witness of Apostles, saints and martyrs. The number of
martyrs has been very great from that day till now but you set aside
the testimony borne by their lives and death. You also impute
foolishness or deceit to your dearest friends, some of whom are with
God and who died in the faith, exhorting you to believe in Jesus
Christ. Indeed, you make all of us who preach the Gospel to be liars.
And we are not so.
You do not think so badly of us when we speak in everyday life–only
when we tell you glorious things, which we have tasted and handled, of
the good Word of God. We speak out of our experience of the power of
Christ's blood when we pray you to accept His atoning sacrifice and
yield yourselves to Him. We have no motive in persuading you to faith
but that of love to your souls. We shall not be gainers by your
conversion, nor losers by your ruin. But we love you, and therefore
pray you believe those necessary Truths, without which you can never
enter the kingdom of Heaven.
These people next did violence to Christ Himself and His precious
blood. It does seem amazing to those of us who love Jesus and worship
Him that any should reject Him. He comes so tenderly, so meekly, the
Lamb of God! All that He does is so generous, so self-denying, that we
marvel that you refuse Him. "He takes away the sin of the world"–why
does the world despise Him? What has He done that you should refuse to
become His disciples and accept His salvation? Do you not know that you
do despite to His blood?
To me there is a great sanctity about the blood of man. I saw last
Wednesday the Prayer Book which Bishop Juxon held in his hand as he
stood by the side of Charles I on the scaffold at Whitehall. Two spots
of blood are on the page wherein he was reading the prayers, as the axe
fell upon the monarch's neck. I have no reverence for Charles I but I
have reverence for drops of blood. I looked at them and they were no
theme of jest for me–the blood of a man is sacred.
But what shall I say of the blood of the Son of God! God Himself,
incarnate, in some mysterious manner taking into union with Himself our
humanity and shedding His blood to redeem us! What is to be said of
this? Look with reverence upon that precious blood. Can you think that
this blood was shed to wash away sin, and yet trifle with it and go
your way to your farm and to your merchandise, forgetful altogether of
this amazing sacrifice? God grant that you may not be guilty of the
blood of Christ! It is an enormous guilt and it lies on every
unbeliever who has heard of Jesus and has rejected His great salvation.
These people had to do despite to all the marvels which lie wrapped up
in the Gospel. To us, my dear Hearers, who believe in Jesus, the Gospel
is the most wonderful thing that can ever be. The more we know of it,
the more astounded we are at it. It is a compound of Divine and
infinite things. When we study it, we go from wonder to wonder. Here we
behold the heart of God and hear the voice of His infinite tenderness,
His infallible wisdom, His stern justice and His supreme beneficence.
How can all this be rejected by you? Surely, you do not know what is in
the Gospel, or you would hearken to its every tone.
I sat yesterday with two tubes in my ears to listen to sounds that came
from revolving cylinders of wax. I heard music, though I knew that no
instrument was near. It was music which had been caught up months
before and now was ring-
ing out as clearly and distinctly in my ears as it could have done had
I been present at its first sound. I heard Mr. Edison speak–he
repeated a childish ditty. And when he had finished he called upon his
friends to repeat it with him. And I heard many American voices joining
in that repetition. That wax cylinder was present when these sounds
were made and now it talked it all out in my ear.
Then I heard Mr. Edison at work in his laboratory–he was driving nails
and working on metal and doing all sorts of things and calling for this
and that with that American tone which made one know his nationality. I
sat and listened and I felt lost in the mystery. What of all this? What
can these instruments convey to us?
But oh, to sit and listen to the Gospel when your ears are really
opened! Then you hear God Himself at work. You hear Jesus speak–you
hear His voice in suffering and in Glory and you rise up and say, "I
never thought to have heard such strange things! Where have I been to
be so long deaf to this? How could I neglect a Gospel in which are
locked up such wondrous treasures of wisdom and knowledge, such
measureless depths of love and Divine Grace?" In the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus, God speaks into the ear of His child more music than all the
harps of Heaven can yield. I pray you, do not despise it. Be not such
dull, driven cattle that when God has set before you what angels desire
to look into, you close your eyes to such glories and pay attention to
the miserable trifles of time and sense.
This rejection of the Gospel of Christ is the more grievous because it
is a decided act of the will. When a man refuses to be saved it is his
own act and deed. Nothing in Scripture will support us in throwing the
blame elsewhere. The devil himself cannot refuse Christ for a man. Man
must do that for himself. Only you can bolt the door against yourself.
There is a will in man and it is a sadly perverse will, so that the
Savior said of it, "You will not come to Me, that you might have life."
The not coming of which the Lord complains is a direct act of the man's
own will. You choose to sin–you choose to remain uncleansed from
guilt. You choose to abide under the wrath of God.
You have deliberately chosen to be without Christ for years–and
therein you are choosing your own destruction. This is a fearful thing.
It made me feel, when I was preparing my sermon, as if I must spend all
the time over this first head. For I cannot willingly leave a single
soul to be of the number of whom it is written, "You put it from you."
How can we bear to see you thus commit soul-suicide?
Notice! We have here the rejection of Christ regarded as a man's own
verdict upon himself. No man can claim a fairer jury than to let his
own faculties sit in judgment upon himself. Listen! "You judge
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life." This, then, is your own
verdict, you who refuse the Gospel. You have not yielded to Christ and
you are not saved. And thus you have "judged yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life." In the legal sense there is no worthiness in any
man. Our conscious unworthiness is our only worthiness for mercy and
that consciousness is worked in us by Divine Grace.
But in looking at the whole picture, you have felt that you were not
the men to believe in Christ, you were not the women to be saved. You
felt, rather, that you were the kind of people who should spend your
zeal in attending the theater or the dance. You felt that you best
answered the end of your being when you did your daily labor, or opened
your shop and saved a little money. You felt that you were not called
upon to think of more high and heavenly things. You judged yourselves
worthy to live a temporary life and then, like beasts, to die and be no
more. An eternal destiny of glory and immortality you have not judged
yourselves worthy to obtain.
Remember, this is your own verdict upon yourself. If your verdict had
run, "I am an immortal being. I shall outlive the sun and moon and I
would therefore be prepared for my supreme destiny. I can only be so
prepared by linking myself with the eternal Son of God, who, as the
chief of men, shows us our manhood united to the Godhead. Only He gives
those who are in Him to rejoice in God their Father," this would have
led you to lofty aspirations. This conclusion you have not arrived at
but you have brought in the verdict, "unworthy of eternal life," which,
being interpreted, means–worthy to die.
I fear that your verdict will have to stand. How terrible will it be
when the Lord will set His seal to your own judgment and say–"You are
unworthy of eternal life–this is your own judgment upon yourself. You
were not willing to be quickened into spiritual life. You shall remain
in eternal death"! It will be Hell to a man to have his own voluntary
choice confirmed and made unchangeable. Oh, that this judgment may not
fall upon you! O Sirs, I dread above all things that throughout
eternity you will be left to your own free wills, to continue in that
condition of alienation from God which you have chosen, reaping what
you have sowed! If you deliberately prefer sin to Christ and let go
pardon, everlasting life and Heaven, who is to blame? Will you not
curse yourselves to all eternity? And will not this be Hell?
Once more–this sad, this wretched putting from them of everlasting
life, greatly grieves the Spirit of God. Paul and Barnabas were moved
by it to speak in deep solemnity. In those godly men the Spirit of God
largely dwelt and in them He revealed His thoughts. They had come to
Antioch in pure love to souls. And they had hoped better things of
their countrymen than to see them reject the Savior. As an audience,
they had been most attentive while Paul recited the history of Israel
and he and Barnabas hoped that many would have believed on the Son of
David.
And when they found that the frequenters of the synagogue had become
envious and jealous because the Gentiles were so eager to hear the
Word, then Paul and Barnabas were grievously wounded. The Spirit of God
is much more tender than the soul of Paul or Barnabas and He is sorely
grieved when He sees Jesus rejected. It is His office to win for Jesus
the love of men and He is vexed when men turn their backs on the loving
Lord. What must the Holy Spirit have to bear from the multitudes of men
and women who are putting the Gospel away from them! In no one case is
it a trifle to Him but in every instance He is grieved, even as of old
it was written–"They rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit."
O gracious Spirit of God, still bear with wayward men! We beseech You,
still have pity upon the ungodly, for madness is in their hearts. Still
enlighten their darkness and melt the hardness of their hearts, for
Jesus' sake.
There stands the case. They put everlasting life from them and judged
themselves unworthy of it. What an unhappy state of things! It is too
painful for me. I cannot speak longer upon it–I must hasten to my
second point.
II. THIS REJECTION OF CHRIST BY SOME LED TO A MORE EXTENDED EFFORT.
When Paul and Barnabas found that their message was rejected, what did
they do? They met the Jews with this bold sentence, "Seeing you put it
from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles."
In consequence of the ill-manners of the Jews they did not turn away
from their work. It never entered their minds to give up their ministry
because it did not succeed among these Jews. They did not say, "Lo, we
turn away from preaching Jesus–we will speak no more in the name of
the Lord." Neither, my Brethren, may we speak thus. I know the heart
grows sick when tender testimony is rejected. The constant reiteration
of the same Gospel to ears that will not hear becomes wearisome work.
It needs great faith to go on from day to day plowing a rock. Oh, shall
we always have to cry to you in vain! Will you always be so perverse?
Yet we dare not cease to plead with you. We cannot give you up.
We overcome the suggestion of our weariness, "I will speak no more in
the name of the Lord." For love of you, the Gospel is as fire in our
bones and we cannot cease to warn every man and plead with every man
for Jesus. Instead of turning from the work, these holy men addressed
themselves to those who had been somewhat neglected–"Lo, we turn to
the Gentiles."
Beloved, if you have been mainly laboring with the children of godly
parents and these refuse, turn to the slum children. If you have tried
to bless respectable people and they remain unsaved, try those who are
not respectable. If those to whom it was natural and necessary that the
Word should first be spoken have put it away from them, turn to those
who have been left out in the cold. Take the Lord's hint in this
Apostolic history and distinctly turn to those people who are not yet
Gospel-hardened. Turn to those who have not been brought up under
religious influences but have been looked upon as without the camp.
That, I believe, is the Lord's mind towards the Church of today. Let
her break up fresh soil and she will have richer harvests. Let her open
new mines and she shall find rare riches. We too often preach within a
little circle where the message of life has already been rejected
scores of times. Let us not spend all our time in knocking at doors
from which we have been repulsed. Let us try elsewhere. During this new
week and throughout the rest of our lives, let us seek after the
neglected, the utterly irreligious, the worldly and profane.
Be not amazed–I mean just what I say! Let the infidel and the
superstitious be the object of our prayers. Let the frivolous and
worldly be spoken with. This seems to me to be the parallel of Paul's
conduct when he turned to the Gentiles who were given up to idols and
served different lusts and were viewed as quite beyond the line of
Divine Grace.
They enlarged the scope of their ministry under Divine command. They
said, "We turn to the Gentiles. For so has the Lord commanded us."
Their change of aim was not a freak of fancy. If you now turn your
chief thoughts to the most neglected part of the community, you will
have this as your warrant, "So has the Lord commanded us." It was right
to begin with Chapel-goers and Church-goers and those instructed in the
faith–it was necessary to begin with the children of the godly. But if
they put it from them and count themselves unworthy of eternal life, it
is now imperative upon us that we look after others.
O my Brethren, let us try to do so! Let us turn our energies towards
getting in the people who are not familiar with the courts of the
Lord's house, nor with the Gospel of His Son–for so has the Lord
commanded us. There is this happy and yet unhappy circumstance to urge
us on–the outsiders are by far the larger number. What were the Jews
in number as compared with the Gentiles? If you work for Christ among
those who are in our religious circles and fail to win them, the field
is the world and the larger part of that field has never been touched
as yet.
We have labored for London. But if London counts itself unworthy of
eternal life, let us think of Calcutta, Canton and the Congo. If these
near ones will not reward our endeavors, let us be of enterprising
spirit and do as traders do, who, when they find no market at home,
strike out new lines. This is precisely what the text would teach us.
Let us launch out into the deep and let down our nets for a draught. If
we cannot catch fish in the shallows, great shoals of fish are in the
deeps and if we will launch out we shall come back with our boats
loaded with the living freight.
The result of the rejection of Christ by some was the expansion of the
sphere of the godly workers. It reminds us of the parable–they that
were bid were not worthy. Therefore, go out into the highways and
hedges and as many as you find bid to the supper.
III. Thirdly, please notice that THIS ENLARGEMENT OF EFFORT WAS
ENCOURAGED BY THE PROMISE
OF GOD. "For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set you to be
a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth."
Let us notice this–God has set Jesus to be a light, and a light He
must be. God's appointment is no empty thing. No man thinks of setting
up a light if nobody will ever see it. And if God has appointed Christ
to be a light, depend upon it some are to see that light. But all men
are blind by nature. Alas, it is even so. But if God has set His Son to
be a light, I conclude that He is about to open the eyes of the blind,
that they may see this light. If I saw a wise man going into a blind
asylum, laying on gas or making preparation for the electric light, I
should feel sure that he had a view to people who can see. And if none
but blind people could come into the building, I should conclude that
he anticipated a time when the poor blind folks would find their eyes
again and would be able to use the light.
So, as the Lord has set Jesus to be a light, you may be sure that He
means to open blind eyes. Jesus will enlighten the people, souls will
be saved. God has set His King upon the holy hill of Zion and He has
not set Him there for a King without intending to give Him a kingdom.
God will not allow His Son to be a Savior who never saves, a Redeemer
who does not redeem. Our Lord is set to enlighten every class. The Jew
no longer has a monopoly on the light of Heaven. God has not appointed
His Son to save a few dozen people who go to a particular meeting
house. He has set Him to be a light to the nations and He means He
shall be so. This encourages us to labor among all classes. Jesus is a
fit light for the upper ten thousand and some of them shall rejoice in
that light–he is equally set to be a light to the teeming millions and
they shall rejoice in Him, too.
What God has appointed must be carried out. Jesus is yet to be a light
to outcast people–to the persons of whom we have never thought
favorably, the classes whom even philanthropy has felt ready to
abandon. This is God's set purpose concerning His Son Jesus and His
omnipotence will carry it out. We are further told that our Lord Jesus
is set to be salvation. Be you therefore sure that He will save. If
Jesus is set for salvation, men shall be saved. Let us believe in
Christ's power to save. We have only a spattering of faith in Him. Why
do you not talk of Jesus to that fellow who swears in the street? You
say that it would be of no use. What is this but distrust of the
Gospel?
Why do you not test the power of the glad tidings upon persons of bad
character? Is it not that you think the Gospel would be of no use in
such a case? You think that some quarters of the town cannot be reached
by the Truth of God– thus you have a local Christianity–a God of the
hills and not of the valleys–a religion in which the power varies
according to longitude and latitude. God forgive our unbelief and at
the same time kill it!
The great Father has set Christ Jesus to be "salvation unto the ends of
the earth." So then, if any are further off than others, they are
especially included. If any seem so far gone that they stand on the
verge of creation, out of the reach of civilization and charity–these
are the people whom Jesus is set to save. He can save to both ends of
the earth and all that lies in between. To the most debauched,
depraved, drunken and desperate, Jesus is set to be salvation. From
that poverty which has been brought on by vice and that degradation
which is the consequence of sin, Jesus can uplift mankind.
Where even the image of manhood seems obliterated and the brute reigns
supreme, the Lord Jesus can set the superscription of God. To the lost,
Jesus is set to be a Savior. The triumphs of the Gospel at the first
were largely among the
lowest of the low. Slaves and outcasts embraced Christianity and rose
to holiness. It was by such that the Lord overthrew the idols of Greece
and Rome. The Lord can work such wonders again and He will. Only let us
believe it and tell out unceasingly the Gospel of Jesus in the
unlikeliest places and the promise will be fulfilled–"I have set you
to be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation unto
the ends of the earth."
IV. Observe, in the fourth place, that THIS ENLARGEMENT OF EFFORT WAS
ENCOURAGED BY SPEEDY
SUCCESS–"And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and
glorified the Word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. And the Word of the Lord was published throughout all
the region."
First, the Gentiles were glad. Could you not see their eyes sparkle as
they learned that Jesus was their salvation? They sat in the synagogue,
where they were only tolerated, the Jews looking very jealously at
them. But now they heard good news, for the living God had thought of
them and sent to them salvation. No more would they care for the dark
eyes of the Jews. They smiled as they saw the door of Divine Grace set
open before them. Paul and Barnabas must have felt glad to address so
glad a congregation. We little guess with what joy the message of mercy
would be received by those who had never yet heard it.
Go and see what it will do. How I should like a congregation of people
who have never heard of Jesus Christ before! I should expect to have a
blazing time of it, like the man who set light to a straw stack and
found that he had a world of fire before him in no time. To hear of
salvation by the blood of Jesus for the first time must be a sensation
indeed! As for many of my hearers, they have heard of Jesus so long
that the topic is stale. I feel you will never accept the Savior but
will die in your sins. Those who have never heard of Jesus at all often
hear the Gospel with great interest and believe unto eternal life.
The Gentiles accepted the Word. They did not sit down and quibble and
raise questions and so forth. But it is written, "they were glad and
glorified the Word of the Lord." This is more than many ministers do.
Look at our divines now! What are they doing? They are not glorifying
the Word of God but taking the glory from it. According to some of them
the Word of God in His Book is full of blunders–how much less
trustworthy must it be as it is preached! The shepherds are now
destroying the pastures. Holy Scripture, according to them, is not
infallible. The sure word of testimony is no longer sure according to
modern ideas. With these I have no fellowship. O my Soul, come not into
their secret! Let us loathe such dishonoring of the Word of God. Let us
get far away from all pretense of communion with these enemies of our
faith.
Get among the poor, the lowly, the sinful. Tell them the glad news of
pardon bought with blood. I warrant you, they will not turn critics and
quibble and find fault. But they will, many of them, believe unto
eternal life. The man who has grown accustomed to luxuries is the man
who turns his meat over and picks off a bit here and a bit there–this
is too fat and that is too gristly. Bring in the poor wretches who are
half-starved. Fetch in a company of laborers who have been waiting all
day at the docks and have found no work and in consequence have
received no wage.
Set them down to a joint of meat. It vanishes before them. See what
masters they are of the art of knife and fork! They find no fault–they
never dream of such a thing. If the meat had been a little coarse, it
would not have mattered to them. Their need is too great for them to be
dainty. Oh, for a host of hungry souls! How pleasant to feed them! How
different from the task of persuading the satiated Pharisees to partake
of the Gospel! Go for them, Beloved! Lay yourselves out to reach poor,
needy souls. They will come to Jesus, though the self-righteous will
not. A great success awaits those who will again "turn to the
Gentiles." Oh, for such a turning on the part of all who love the
Gospel of Free Grace!
V. I finish with the fifth point. THIS ENLARGEMENT AND ALL ITS BLESSED
RESULTS, WERE ORDAINED
IN THE PURPOSE OF GOD. The record runs thus–"They were glad and
glorified the Word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed." Attempts have been made to prove that these words do
not preach predestination. But these attempts so clearly do violence to
language that I will not waste time in answering them. A great
discussion has been carried on between those who believe in the free
will of man and others who believe in the Free Grace of God. There is
no real reason for this dispute, except when the man who believes in
free will denies God's freedom in Divine Grace, or when the man who
magnifies Free Grace denies that man has any will.
It is possible for both parties to be wrong–and, in a measure, for
both to be right. Beloved, I used the first part of my text fairly and
I was not afraid to acknowledge the existence of free will, and to
deplore its doings. Now I read, "as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed," and I shall not twist the text. But I shall glorify the
Grace of God by as-
cribing to it every man's faith. Those who believed in Jesus believed
in Him because they were ordained unto eternal life. I will not take
away a jot of what I believe to be the Truth of God on either side of a
debate.
From the Word of God I gather that damnation is all of man, from top to
bottom–and salvation is all of Divine Grace, from first to last. He
that perishes chooses to perish. But he that is saved is saved because
God has chosen to save him. Though some cannot make these statements
agree, they are nevertheless equally true–"You have destroyed
yourself. But in Me is your help found."
We believe that the Lord knows them that are His and knows them before
they are openly manifested, so that He says of a certain place, "I have
much people in this city." Do you think that the Lord does not
foreknow? How, then, can He prophesy? If God foresees a certain thing
is to be, why, then, it must be. And has not this all the ingredients
of predestination? Moreover, "whom He did foreknow, He did
predestinate." Is it not God that gives the disposition to believe? If
men are disposed to have eternal life, does not He, in every case,
dispose them? Is it wrong for God to give Grace? If it is right for Him
to give it, is it wrong for Him to purpose to give it?
Would you have Him give it by accident? If it is right for Him to
purpose to give Grace today, it was right for Him to have purposed it
before this date. He is a God that changes not, and what He performs
today is not the purpose of today but the purpose of all eternity–"For
known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." God
knows and God appoints those who shall believe and be saved.
But please note this fact–God can effect His purpose with man without
violating his will. He can leave man a man, with full use of his
faculties and yet turn his mind as He pleases. The will is never more
free than in conversion and yet it is never more under subjection to
Divine power. I do not know how the Lord governs the will–if I did
know, I should be God. God does not new-create men as a baker makes
loaves of bread, or a potter makes vessels, by manual skill and force.
No, He treats men as men–He deals with free agents as free agents. And
yet He has as much power over them as the baker over the dough, or the
potter over the clay.
His supreme will acts Omnipotently and yet works with a holy delicacy
which never violates the attributes of the mind. He makes men as much
free agents in repentance, faith and holiness, as they were when they
ran greedily into sin. He makes His people willing in the day of His
power and thus glorifies His wisdom, His power and His love. God has a
purpose to save those whom He gave to His Son Jesus and all these must
come to Jesus for that salvation. I want you to believe this when you
are at work for your Lord.
When I have come into this pulpit on a Thursday night, I have thought,
"It is very wet and I shall not have many people." But I have said to
my friends in the vestry, "We shall have a picked congregation. God
will send those whom He means to bless." I do not come here and preach
a "perhaps." What is to be done by preaching the Gospel is determined
from before all time and it will be accomplished. If I were dependent
upon the will of my hearers and there were no supreme power over their
wills, I should preach with a faint heart.
But he that preaches the Gospel with omnipotence at the back of him has
a blessed and fruitful service. Is not this cheering for the preacher?
We shall not labor in vain, nor spend our strength for nothing. Heaven
and earth shall pass away but the Gospel shall not fail. Men may rage
against the Gospel and think to defeat its purpose. But the counsel of
the Lord shall stand. All that the Lord intended in creation and in
Providence and in Grace will be assuredly accomplished to the last jot
and tittle.
In the Kingdom of Grace there shall be nothing to mar the glory of the
Lord's triumph when the record has been fully written. This is a great
comfort to the worker. Let him be always abounding in the work of the
Lord, for as much as his labor is not in vain in the Lord. Bowed to the
earth with horror at the guilt involved in the willful rejection of the
Lord Jesus by our hearers, we nevertheless triumph in the firm
conviction that God, who sends us, will go with us and that His purpose
shall stand. We believe in the sovereignty of God, not only in His
right to do as He wills with His own Grace but also in His power to do
so.
Our text is equally full of comfort to the obedient hearer. For if you
believe, it follows that you are ordained unto eternal life. If you
believe the Gospel of Truth–if you believe in the Divine sense of
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ–if you cast your guilty souls on Jesus
and look to Him as lifted up, even as the brazen serpent was lifted in
the wilderness– you are ordained unto eternal life. Trouble not
yourself about election but rather encourage yourself with it. This is
sure evidence of your election, that you believe in Jesus. For "as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed." If you be-
lieve, you are ordained to possess on earth the holy life which
temptation cannot destroy and to enjoy forever that heavenly life which
eternity will not exhaust. Faith gives you a life in Christ which can
no more die than the eternal Lord on whom it rests. Oh, that the sweet
constraint of almighty love may lead trembling souls to trust Jesus at
once and live forever!
I wish especially to speak to any here present who are not familiar
with the Gospel. I speak to rank outsiders, to people who know nothing
of these things. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be
saved"–saved at once. "But I never go to a place of worship." I mean
exactly you, my Friend. "But I have been a swearer." I am thinking of
the blasphemer. "But I have been an awful drunkard." To you I speak
this Gospel. "Alas," cries one, "I shrink from your eyes. I crept in
here this morning but I am a daughter of shame." I say to you, even to
you–"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."
You are aimed at in the mission of Jesus. Trust Him and you are saved.
"But I have been violent against the Gospel." You are the very man that
I am especially looking for. I prayed for you before I came to this
place–for I prayed that Saul of Tarsus might this day become Paul the
Apostle. I long to win, by this sermon, some outrageous enemy of God–
that he may become a fervent friend of Jesus. You are as black as a
crow, and almost as bad as the devil–therefore I long to see you
converted at once, to become a leader in the Church of God.
Oh, for a batch of great saints made out of great sinners! Oh, that
your energy, now used to fight against God, may be subdued by Sovereign
Grace and employed in defending and spreading the Gospel of Jesus!
Shall it be so, my Friend? Oh, that some woman that is a sinner would
come and wash our Lord's feet with tears and wipe them with the hairs
of her head! Come, you with long hair, unbind your tresses and honor
them by this service. If they have been a net in which to entangle
precious lives, make them a towel for your Savior's feet.
Come, Sinners, come to Him who loves you! Bring them, O Lord! Hear us,
O Jehovah, as we entreat You to save them by the blood of Your Beloved
Son! Hear us now, we beseech You and save myriads! Amen and Amen and
Amen!